A: Well we talked about the diagnostic wax-up being the wax model derived from Digital Smile Design. Now that we have a wax model, I can do something called a Trial Smile. A trial smile is made from the diagnostic wax-up and allows me to try the wax-up in your mouth (as long as your teeth are shorter or require additive veneers, instead of subtractive veneers). Essentially a test drive for your smile! Then you can see what you look like generally – with no numbing, no drilling, no drama! I have had people rush off with these plastic forms on their teeth to first dates. This step really can help to lift a patient’s confidence in the final result!
Following this, and if the patient’s happy, then we can start preparations. In the case of porcelain veneers, preparations are completed along with impressioning steps before placing provisional “temporary” veneers on the patient’s teeth which look exactly like the wax model. In this way, before the time when my dental ceramist starts to craft the teeth, you have yet another chance to “test drive” the smile. Interestingly, lots of people go home and try on different outfits to see what the “new you” would look like. They convey final critique and desired modifications to me, we agree and the finals are made exactly like what we want them to look like.
No surprises. Just elation.
